You had this really great idea. You started on your project with great gusto but as time passes you start to feel deflated.

You just are not getting the results you had been expecting. You are left feeling frustrated, disappointed and flat – your dream project is just not gaining traction and your mindset is negative.

Reading about people who have ‘made it’ accentuates your own lack of progress even further.

You can’t help but wonder if you have been duped by all that smart marketing, the glowing success stories of others and your own misplaced optimism and enthusiasm.

Your well-meaning family and friends had questioned you right from the start. What? Leave your full-time job? Embark on a writing career NOW? Start an internet-based business? (Or whatever other phrase fits here for you). Are you crazy?

Now their voices have become even louder in your head.

You would so love to be one of the success stories. The one who finally made it but right now have lost all your mojo and nothing to show for your courageous decision.

This morning I went to one of my locals to get my morning fix. One of the little joys about life that I am grateful for is my morning coffee (and on some days, for variety, ginger chai!)

I discovered last week that I really liked their mocha so here I was, back for another, with the newspaper clutched under my arm.

It was a delight when the mocha arrived. The design above was made by Sam the barista. He did this with such care and devotion despite the café being at maximum capacity and customers spilling out on the street.

Feeling Gratitude and Savouring

Positive Psychology has done a lot of research in the area of gratitude and the importance of savoring special moments in our daily experience without being in such a rush that we totally miss these. (more…)

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

Success is something most human beings desire and gravitate towards. The word itself has a rich, positive connotation.

A lot of products and services get sold based on the promise of success. Buy this or do that and will find yourself in the winner’s camp.

But what does success mean to you?

Is it about the achievement of short or long-term goals or more external measures of what society defines as successful?

Or fundamentally is it about the quest for happiness and well-being that we think it will provide?

“The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success may be an abstract term but it has a lot of emotional and psychological currency attached to it.

For me, at a professional level, the essence of success embraces the gift of learning, growing and developing both personally and professionally and being able to contribute in a meaningful and rewarding way.

More personally, it is about loving and feeling loved by family and friends and experiencing good levels of health, well-being and wisdom – things I have appreciated more with the passing years! 🙂

How about you? What will be success for you in 2016?

It seems that to find fulfilment in life, we have to find something that is bigger than ourselves.

Dr. Martin Seligman, an eminent American psychologist and founder of Positive Psychology outlines three types of happiness:

The first one is the Hollywood type, he calls the ‘pleasant life.’This consists of having as many pleasures as possible and savouring them but in spite of these pleasures, happiness can still be elusive.

The second type of happiness is described as the ‘good life’ where people learn what their strengths are and use them as much as possible in their daily life. This is seen as being more attainable.

The third form of happiness he describes is the ‘meaningful life.’ This is ‘ineluctably pursued by humans….knowing what your highest strengths are and deploying them in the service of something larger than you are.’

With the new year, make sure your success measures are based on things that really matter to you focusing on your mission, core purpose, values, passion and vision.

Here are some other success thoughts to ponder:

Success is passion, possibility and perseverance over time

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” Swami Vivekananda

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” Bill Gates

Success and failure are two sides of a coin. Failure can teach more than success but learn from both!

“We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we’ve been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.” Angela Lee Duckworth

Maintaining success can be harder than achieving success

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

As you reflect, I would love to hear what your idea of success is for 2016? Please feel free to share.

Jasbindar Singh is a coaching psychologist working with managers and leaders to enhance their self awareness and leadership effectiveness.

It is that time of the year! If you are like many of my clients, you may be feeling low energy, tired, even exhausted after the considerable output of this year. And you won’t be alone in needing time to just stop, re-charge and refresh with the upcoming break.

Here is a powerful thing you can do which will help renew and bring positive energy and good feelings back:

The power of Gratitude

As we countdown to Christmas or end of the year, do make time to really appreciate and savour all your blessings!

Notice all the gifts, resources, capabilities, blessings, magic and mayhem that life is but especially the gift that our loved ones of family and friends are to us.

And then in your thoughts extend these feelings of appreciation and gratitude back to them.

Those thoughts influences our heart rate variability, which then send positive messages to our brain which in turn manufactures and releases positive feel good chemicals in the body. (more…)